India’s Censor Board of Film Certification(CBFC) has banned the Raveena Tandon rape-and-revenge film ‘Maatr’ (based on the Nirbahaya rape incident), for showing the rape in an excessive violent manner.

The censor board gave a few more reasons for banning the film, besides the graphic and gruesome violence shown against women.

The board were also not happy with the fact that the content of the film was quite different from the screenplay that was submitted (its one of the requirements).

The film is flooded with maa-bahen (mother-sister) expletives. Having beeps isn’t practical as the abuses run throughout the film.

Watch: Maatr Official Trailer

“Rape sequences are always tricky. We never know when they stop becoming shocking and get into the voyeuristic /titillating zone. Though Maatr is hardhitting we cannot take the risk of incurring the wrath of organizations devoted to prevention of violation against women (because of the excessive elaboration shown),” says the CBFC source.

CBFC’s chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani clarified, “We have done our best to accommodate Maatr’s requirements. We even opened the CBFC office on Saturday, a non-working-day, to re-view the film.”

The producers will now have to appeal to the Revising Committee. Its very unlikely that the film will be released this Friday (Apr 21).

Two more films on rape (from around the world) – Paul Verhoeven’s French film Elle and Deepa Mehta’s Anatomy Of Violence (also on Nirbahaya rape incident) are unlikely to be released in India due to their graphic content.